This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your while life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse 1
everyone should write sometimes. journal. lists, songs, poetry, stories. whatever you must. speech is one of the most universal and communicative expression and writing its progeny, its evolution. it is not longer merely seen as an 'art,' a superfluity, reserved specially for a special caste of thinkers, but a necessity. empires built on text, bastioned by code puppet world leaders. text fuels the engines of tomorrow.
if you answer, as Rilke does, "i must," then I recommend the whole volume.
Footnotes
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Letters to a Young Poet by Ranier Maria Rilke ↩